Blix attacks US war intelligence

The chief UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix, has claimed that the US tried to discredit his team and used "shaky" intelligence to make the case for war in Iraq.

Speaking ahead of a briefing to the UN security council today, Mr Blix told the BBC that US officials tried to discredit UN weapons inspectors working in Iraq in a bid to win security council support for military action.

In a BBC TV interview, extracts of which were broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning, Mr Blix also said the US and Britain appeared to have used "shaky" intelligence, including forged documents, in an effort to prove Iraq had banned weapons.

He claimed US officials tried to undermine his inspection team by telling the media he withheld information from the security council about an Iraqi drone.

"At that time the US was very eager to sway the votes in the security council," he said. "They felt that stories about these things would be useful to have and they let it out. In that way they tried to hurt us a bit and say that we had suppressed this.

"It was not the case. It was a bit unfair and hurt us."

Mr Blix said he was "a little bit displeased about it. But you know, this is a rough and tough, rough game and I don't think that we really felt desolate about it".

In the interview, for a BBC2 programme, to be broadcast next Saturday, Mr Blix also said that he had serious doubts about the quality of some of the intelligence used by Washington and London.

"I think there's been a lot of disturbing elements that so much of the intelligence on which the capitals built their case seems to have been shaky," he said.

US 'failed to spot forged documentaries'

Blix said he found it "very, very disturbing" that US intelligence failed to identify as fakes documents suggesting Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger, the West African nation which is the third-largest producer of mined uranium.

In December, the US state department used the information to support its case that Iraq was lying about its weapons programs. But on March 7, Mohammed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the security council that the documents were forgeries.

Asked whether he believed US agents had fabricated the documents, Mr Blix said: "Not quite that far. They might have got this fake contract from somewhere. The CIA say they got a copy of the document from the UK."

"I certainly do not suggest that the UK intelligence service would have fabricated [it], I wouldn't dream of that. But there may be others around."

Mr Blix said he believed the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, was entirely honest in his presentation on Iraqi weapons to the security council.

The UN weapons chief was preparing to brief the security council on his readiness to send arms experts back to Iraq, in a closed session at 3.30pm today.

Mr Blix, who is leaving his post in June, has said he is willing to field inspection teams if the security council agrees, on the condition that they are independent from the military.

Most members of the council, including Britain, say any weapons of mass destruction found now by the US military must be verified by the UN inspectors before sanctions can be lifted.

But the US is urging the council to approve immediately the lifting of the 13-year-old UN sanctions, so that Iraqi oil revenues can be used to finance postwar reconstruction.

Instead of Mr Blix's team, US officials want to send former UN inspectors from the US, Britain and Australia to verify any discovery of banned weapons. The Bush administration blames Mr Blix for hurting its drive for international support in the run-up to the war and has not invited UN inspectors to return, deploying its own teams to search for illegal weapons.

"We see no immediate role for Mr Blix and his inspection teams," Richard Grenell, a spokesman for the US ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte, said yesterday.

But many diplomats argue that the US would have difficulty convincing most people in the world of the validity of any chemical, biological, ballistic or nuclear arms the US military may find without some neutral verification.

"The whole basis by which for years the sanctions regime was held in place was the prospect of UN arms inspectors confirming the disarmament of Iraq," said David Scheffer, an international lawyer and former state department official, now senior vice president of the United Nations Association.

Russia: send in inspectors before lifting sanctions

The Russian foreign ministry today warned that UN sanctions could only be lifted after the international weapons inspectors are allowed to return and complete their work in Iraq.

A Russian foreign ministry spokesman, Alexander Yakovenko, told the Interfax news agency: "Only inspectors from Unmovic [the UN monitoring, verification and inspection commission which Mr Blix heads] and the IAEA, who have a mandate from the UN security council, can clarify this issue."

On the ground in Iraq today, the retired US general who is overseeing the postwar reconstruction of Iraq was today given a warm welcome by Iraqi Kurds in the northern town of Sulaimaniya.

Residents of the Kurdish-controlled town, 205 miles north-east of Baghdad, greeted Lieutenant General Jay Garner with cheers, hugs and a shower of petals on the second day of his tour around Iraq.

It was Lt Gen Garner's first time in the region since he ran Operation Provide Comfort, coordinating humanitarian aid after Saddam Hussein crushed a Kurdish rebellion following the 1991 Gulf war.

He was appointed in January by Washington to run the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, which is charged with restoring services in Iraq while an interim government is formed.